Football: Phoenix midfielder experienced dealing with adversity

Alex Rufer of the Wellington Phoenix is challenged by Moudi Najjar of Melbourne City. Photo / Getty Images.

If there's any sportsperson who knows about dealing with adversity, it's Alex Rufer.

Along with the rest of his Wellington Phoenix team-mates, the combative midfielder is in lockdown, awaiting news of a possible resumption to the A-League football season, which was halted last month with six regular season rounds to play.

Football Federation Australia is due to make an announcement on Wednesday.

Rufer is in his seventh year at the Phoenix, but in the first five of those, he started just 22 games and sometimes couldn't even get a spot in the reserve team.

The arrival of Mark Rudan as coach last season was a turning point for the 23-year-old, who became a fixture in midfield as Wellington made the A-League playoffs for the first time in four seasons.

Rufer was the inaugural winner of the club's "Bandage award", given to the player who displays the key traits of determination and resilience.

He started the first eight games of this season, before injury saw him miss six matches. Upon his return, Australian Cam Devlin had forged a strong partnership with German Matti Steinmann at the base of Wellington's midfield, meaning Rufer had to be largely content with an impact role off the bench in the last six games of the truncated campaign.

"It's another opportunity to learn – that's the way I look at it," said Rufer.

"I go into every game with the same mentality – to give my best and help the team as (much) as possible. Sometimes on the bench you can look at how the opposition are playing and look for some weaknesses.

"Since I first arrived at the Phoenix there's always been really healthy competition. Having a team like we did, it's always tough once you're out of the starting eleven to get back in. But full raps to the boys, not only those two but everyone.

"Obviously I want to be starting and playing 90 minutes but that wasn't to be. I still gave my best and we had a great season. I'm just really proud to be a Phoenix player."

Rufer's 'bubble' consists of just him and his mum in her Palmerston North home, but he stays in touch with his team-mates and the Phoenix coaching staff on a daily basis. Training programmes have been prepared for every player and Zoom sessions are a regular occurrence.

"The big one for us is just the routine," said Rufer.

"I love having a routine of getting up, going to training and things like that. It's been hard to get over that but now we're well into this lockdown I've tried to make my own routine at home.

"I go for runs most days and there's a park down the road so I can do some fitness training. Sometimes it's quite tough when you're alone but it comes down to self-motivation. I'm just trying to take it day by day and embrace it, I guess."

Off the field, Rufer's legendary love of fishing has gone on hold under the government's Level Four regulations, but his mother has made good use of having her son around unexpectedly.

"She's got me sanding and painting which has been a new experience, but I've loved it as well, just helping around the house," Rufer laughs.

"It's been good just to have a bit of time to relax, too. It was quite stressful being (in isolation) in Australia and not knowing what was going on, but now we're home and in lockdown hopefully we can kick this virus to the kerb and get back into it."